Cold winter mornings are incomplete without warm and filling breakfasts. While a good breakfast is a good start to the day, in winter it is surely your lifeline. It helps you fight the laziness that comes with the cold and keep up your typing speed as your fingers begin to give in. You can take on the battles of the day once you are pumped up with the energy of a hearty breakfast. Here are five winter breakfast recipes that are nutritious and great energy boosters.
Sweet potato chaat
Yes, chaat for breakfast can be healthy especially if you make it with sweet potato, a filling winter vegetable rich in Vitamin Bs, C, Magnesium, and Potassium. As per Ayurveda, sweet potato balances all doshas. Here is a quick sweet potato breakfast recipe that you can make before you rush for your day.
Ingredients
- 3 sweet potatoes
- 1 tsp melted ghee
- ½ tsp cumin seeds powder
- A pinch of ground black pepper
- Rock salt as per taste
- ½ tsp chaat masala (optional)
- 1 chopped green chili (optional)
- Chopped coriander leaves (optional)
Steps
- Boil the sweet potatoes for 20 - 25 minutes until tender.
- Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes. Add the ghee, spices, salt, and coriander leaves. Mix well.
Tweak your lifestyle for better health
The winter edition sprouts
Sprouts are nutritious and an ideal protein breakfast. In the winter, you can boil the sprouts for a warm breakfast and make them colorful with radish, carrot, and coriander chutney. Here is the full recipe.
Ingredients
(For the salad)
- 1 bowl of sprouted Moong & Moth beans
- 1 tbsp of grated carrot and radish
- 1 tsp of roasted peanut powder
- 1 tsp soaked sunflower seeds
- 2 tsp coriander chutney/ salad dressing
- Rock salt as per taste
- Black pepper as per taste
- Cumin seed powder as per taste
(For the chutney or salad dressing)
- 1 cup chopped coriander leaves
- 1 tsp jaggery
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Steps
- Boil the sprouts with some water and salt as per taste. Let it simmer until the water evaporates.
- Take the sprouts off the flame and add grated carrot and radish, roasted peanut powder, soaked sunflower seeds, and spices.
- Blend the ingredients of the chutney and add them to the sprouts. Mix well.
Millet porridge
Warm, nutritious, and sweet - you can prepare millet porridge in five to seven minutes.
Ingredients
- 250 ml milk
- 1 tbsp Ragi or Bajra flour
- 1 crushed cardamom
- 1 pinch of nutmeg powder
- 2 tsp jaggery
Steps
- Mix your flour with cold milk and stir well.
- Put the mixture to a boil and add the crushed cardamom and nutmeg powder while stirring.
- Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken.
- Once the mixture is boiled, switch off the heat and allow the mixture to cool for a minute.
- Add two teaspoons of jaggery and mix well.
Radish sesame seeds & flax seeds paratha
Pack your regular muli ka paratha with the power of sesame seeds and flax seeds. This paratha uses a special dry chutney powder to enhance its flavor and nutritional value. Here is how you can make it.
Ingredients
For the paratha
- 1 cup grated radish
- 2 tsps of sesame seeds and flax seeds chutney powder
- 1 chopped green chili
- Salt as per taste
- 1 tsp carom seeds
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
For the dry chutney
- 1/2 cup roasted sesame seeds
- ½ cup roasted flaxseeds
- Black salt as per taste
- ½ tsp cumin seeds powder
- ½ tsp red chili powder
- 2 pods of garlic (optional)
Steps
- Knead the wholewheat flour with water and keep it at rest.
- Blend the ingredients of the dry chutney and store the mixture for use in other meals as well.
- Press the grated radish between your hands and release the water.
- Mix the grated radish with two teaspoons of dry chutney powder, carom seeds, green chili, and a bit of salt.
- Take a small portion of the dough, make a small ball and flatten it with a rolling pin.
- Put the radish mixture on the flattened dough and close it with its corners. Use a rolling pin to flatten the stuffed dough.
- Allow the pan to heat and place the paratha on the pan.
- Add a teaspoon of oil to the paratha and flip it after a minute. Do it on the other side. Serve.
Masala mung cheela
This protein-packed pancake is a breakfast recipe you can serve with ghee and your favorite winter chutneys.
Ingredients
- 1 cup split green mung
- 1 tbsp rice
- 1 raw banana
- 1 green chili
- 1 tbsp chopped spring onion
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves
- Salt as per taste
- ½ tsp cumin seeds powder
- Ghee as per taste
Steps
- Wash and soak the mung dal and rice separately overnight.
- Blend the mung and rice with the raw banana and chili.
- Add chopped spring onion, coriander leaves, salt, and cumin seeds powder.
- Pour a spoonful of the mixture into a hot pan. Flip once it is cooked on the side facing the pan. Heat on the other side. Serve with ghee on top.
Based on inputs by Kaushani Desai, Faculty, Holistic Ayurvedic Cooking
Written by: Vanditaa Kothari
A healthy and nutritious breakfast raises your energy levels for the day and helps you carry out your tasks more efficiently. Having breakfast is also linked to low levels of bad cholesterol.
A healthy breakfast boosts your immunity and energy levels which strengthens you against the cold. There are certain foods like sweet potatoes, millets, raisins, and leafy and root vegetables that are especially good for the winter cold.
You can have millet porridge, sweet potato chaat, moong lentil pancake, radish paratha, or boiled sprouts, along with additions like amla, soaked nuts, dried fruits, jaggery, and ghee for a nutritious, immunity-boosting, and delicious breakfast meal in winters.
